What is the difference between men’s fitness and muscle building?

Essentially, men's fitness is a general concept covering all sports needs, and muscle gain is a highly directional subdivision goal. The two are included and included, but when it comes to actual training, diet, and evaluation standards, the difference is actually much greater than many people think.

If you go to any commercial gym on a weekday evening, the difference will be directly reflected in everyone's training status - the product manager who just got off work will do core training with the coach, and after 20 minutes of training on the elliptical machine, he is ready to go home to pick up his children. This is a typical ordinary male fitness. The goal is nothing more than to offset the back pain caused by sitting for a long time, and control body fat to not increase too fast.； The young man who squats next to the free weight area and takes a breath while recording his training log, who has to push two and a half bench presses to failure in each set, needless to ask, is basically rushing to build muscle.

Many people who are just getting started will equate the two. I felt the same way when I first started. I felt that if I didn't practice, I didn't think I was in shape. Later, when I met more people, I discovered that men's fitness goals are diverse: some people want to play badminton for three hours without cramps, some people want to wear shirts to support their shoulders without shoulder pads, and some people simply apply for a card to accompany their partner, and it is considered exercise to come here to fish and blow the air conditioner. These are all considered male fitness, but they are not related to muscle gain at all.

People who really want to focus on building muscle have completely different lifestyles than people who do ordinary fitness. Let’s talk about eating. It’s normal for ordinary fitness people to do something and drink an iced Coke after training. Anyway, moving is better than not moving. It’s not burdensome to eat something after consuming calories. ； But people who want to gain muscle always have a protein bar in their bag. When eating a bowl of noodles, they have to calculate whether the meal has enough carbohydrates and how much protein is missing. They have to stay up all night the day before and worry about whether they will lose muscle. Even when friends ask for a drink, they have to ask first, "Is there braised beef? If so, I can have two cups of sugar-free."

Nowadays, there is a fierce quarrel on the Internet about this matter. Some people say, "Fitness without the goal of building muscle is just a waste of time." Others think, "I work out just to have fun, and I don't compete in fitness competitions. I can't eat this or touch that for a few taels of muscle." There is actually nothing wrong with both of these opinions. The core is that everyone's goals are not on the same track at all.

To put it bluntly, the difference between the two is like playing with cars: ordinary fitness is to buy a family car for transportation. It is easy to drive, fuel-efficient, and has no faults. If it is enough for daily commuting and picking up the baby, everything will be fine.； Building muscle means performing performance modifications. Wheel hubs, shock absorbers, and engines all need to be adjusted to optimal parameters. Every investment must be converted into how much horsepower can be produced. The time, energy, and money costs invested are not of the same order of magnitude.

I have a former golfer who is a typical example. He started working out just to withstand collisions when playing field ball. After practicing for half a year, his physical fitness improved and he was no longer inferior in confrontation. Suddenly, he felt that his arm circumference was too thin and did not look good on the jersey, so he switched to the system to build muscle. He himself said, "Before, the task was completed if I moved and sweated. Now I have to exert force in every movement, for fear that training on the wrong part will be in vain." The state before and after is not even a little different. In fact, there is no need to draw too close the boundary between the two. Many people want to try to build muscle after regular fitness training. When they are tired from building muscle, they will go back and move around to relax. No matter what it is, as long as it can make your body more comfortable and in better condition, your training is not in vain.